In the evening, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar called and reported that the German fortifications in front of the positions had been completed, and that in addition to the trenches, several firing points of civil structures had been built. Perhaps to prevent our night attacks, the Germans even laid minefields in front of their positions and pulled up barbed wire. As for the sporadic artillery fire, which had been "standing guard" for the German army to repair the fortifications, it also stopped with the completion of the German fortifications.

Akhromeyev, who answered the phone, put down the phone and said to us with a sad face: "The enemy has built this fortification so close to our position, they will become even more arrogant, and later they can attack our positions during the day under the cover of aircraft, tanks, and artillery; At night, they can also send small troops to harass us, so that we can not be at peace. ”

"Do you have any good ideas?" Kirillov waited for Akhromeyev to finish speaking, then suddenly turned his head to look at me and asked: "Comrade division commander, you have always been resourceful, have you thought of a way to deal with the enemy?" ”

When Kirillov said this, all eyes were on me. Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on me, I could only stand up with a wry smile and say to them: "The Germans dare to build fortifications in front of our position, obviously they have been planning for a long time. This forward position of the German army has just been established, and it must be very heavily guarded, and it may have been laid out in a full set to wait for us. If we attack rashly, we may fall into the trap that they have prepared for a long time, so I think it is better to wait and see what happens and send a small detachment to attack the enemy at night, and not consider it for the time being. ”

"Is this appropriate?" Akhromeyev asked in surprise: "Even if we don't act, the enemy will act." Perhaps they will send troops in the evening to attack and harass our positions. ”

I waved my hand. Disapprovingly, he said: "Comrade Chief of Staff." Don't worry too much about this, since you have guessed that the enemy will come to sneak attack, so as long as you take precautions in advance, in that case, even if the enemy comes, you will not take advantage of it. ”

"Chief of Staff, did you hear what the division commander said?" Kirillov listened to my opinion and hurriedly ordered Akhromeyev. "Immediately call Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar and ask him to arrange a sentry on duty at night, not just a double sentry, but a sentry sentry, and a squad with the strongest combat effectiveness."

"Okay, I'll call Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar." Akhromeyev was about to make a phone call as he spoke, and I hurriedly told him next to him: "Chief of Staff, not only Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar of the 4th Regiment, but also Lieutenant Colonel Oleg of the 2nd Regiment." Let them, in addition to sending the strongest sentry, also arrange two machine guns on duty each. ”

Akhromeyev, who was going to call, listened to me. There was a crying and laughing expression on his face, as if he thought I was making too much of a fuss. Such an order was given. Kirillov also helped: "Comrade Oshanina, since there is a sentry and a patrol on the position, there should be no problem in dealing with the sneak attack of the small German troops, there is no need to deploy a machine gun on duty, right?" You know, there is not much ammunition for light and heavy machine guns in the division. ”

"Comrade Political Commissar, it's better to be cautious." Although both Kirillov and Akhromeyev objected to me, I was stubborn and continued to instruct Akhromeyev: "Chief of Staff, call the 2nd and 4th regiments and ask them to arrange manpower as much as possible." ”

Taking advantage of Akhromeyev's phone call, I said to Kirillov and Bandereev: "In the first days of the enemy's forward positions, of course, they will be heavily guarded against a sneak attack by our troops. But when they found that our army was not moving, they would not be willing to be lonely, and they might send a small team to sneak attack. I arranged for the machine gun crew to be on duty so that when the enemy was discovered, I could suppress their fire in the shortest possible time, so as to gain precious time for our troops to enter the position and launch a counterattack. ”

"You think it through, Comrade Division Commander." After listening to this, Pantai Laiev said with emotion: "I think your decision to arrange a machine gun on duty is quite correct, and you cannot risk putting our position in a dangerous situation because of the lack of machine gun ammunition. ”

"What do we do next?" When Kirillov saw that I and Bandereev were on the same page, he could no longer object, and then asked: "Although we are helpless against the enemy's forward positions in the short term, what about the future, how are we going to deal with them in the future?" ”

"It's very simple, it's still a night raid." At this time, I also belonged to the poor skills of Qian donkey, so I had to bite the bullet and move out the old routine, "After two days, after the enemy's defense was relaxed, I sent two small detachments to touch them from both sides of the position and teach them a hard lesson." ”

"Comrade division commander, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar wants to talk to you." Akhromeyev covered the microphone and said to me respectfully: "He told me to send a small detachment at night to quietly approach the enemy's positions along the embankment to conduct reconnaissance. ”

"No, resolutely not." When I heard Akhromeyev's relay, I immediately denied it without hesitation, "You tell Gaidar that the enemy's fortifications have just been repaired, and that their defense at night must be very tight, so let him not take any chances." ”

After I finished speaking, Akhromeyev still maintained the posture of covering the microphone, and said in a pleading tone, with reluctance: "Comrade division commander, I think Comrade Gaidar's construction is still very good, and a small detachment can be sent over to conduct reconnaissance." Even if something was wrong, so close to our position, they would have been able to withdraw in time. ”

"Yes, Comrade Oshanina." Kirillov echoed Akhromeyev's opinion, "Since Lieutenant Colonel Gerda is so confident, we should let them try, maybe they can really find out the details of the enemy, and we can take the opportunity to teach them a lesson." If his plan is rejected like this, I am afraid that it will hurt the self-confidence of the commanders and fighters below. What do you say, old man? His last sentence was addressed to Bantai Leev next to him.

Pantai Laiev was caught between us, he looked left and right, and after hesitating for a long time, he said to me euphemistically: "Comrade division commander, since the political commissar and the chief of staff think that the comrades below can try it, then you might as well agree." I also think that the detachment is not too far away from our position, and even if there is any accident, our side can send troops in time to pick them up. ”

Seeing that the opinions of the three of them were unanimous, I became a loner, and I really wanted to cry without tears. After thinking for a moment, I had to nod helplessly at Akhromeyev and agree with Gaidar's plan.

Seeing that he nodded in agreement, Akhromeyev hurriedly let go of the hand covering the microphone and said excitedly to the other side: "Hey, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, the division commander has agreed to your construction." But for the sake of safety, while you send out small detachments, you should arrange sentries and two machine guns on duty on the positions, and strengthen patrols, so that the Germans do not sneak into our positions. ”

At nine o'clock in the evening, Gaidar called again and reported to us that a reconnaissance detachment of five fighters had set off. They will go down the river along the embankment, quietly approaching the enemy's positions, conducting reconnaissance and sabotage operations.

When I heard the news, instead of rejoicing as Kirillov and the others, I sighed silently, and secretly prayed in my heart for the warriors who had gone out to fight for the hope that they would return safe and sound.

When the three of them first started, the love was still very high, and they felt that tonight would definitely be very fruitful. But as time passed, they slowly fell silent, smoking silently around the table, their eyes involuntarily staring at the phone in the middle of the table.

When the phone rang, almost an hour had passed, and Akhromeyev grabbed the microphone and said loudly: "Hey, I'm Chief of Staff Akhromeyev, is it the head of the Gaidar regiment?" ”

Since there was silence in the headquarters, I could clearly hear the sound coming from the earpiece, and Gaidar anxiously reported: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy, with about a platoon of troops, took advantage of the night to touch our position, was discovered by the machine gun on duty, and a fierce battle broke out. ”

"How's it going?" Akhromeyev nervously asked: "Has the enemy been repulsed?" ”

"Not yet."

"What are you guys eating?!" When Akhromeyev heard him say this, he immediately slapped the table in anger and scolded: "Are your soldiers holding burning sticks in their hands, and they can't even deal with a mere platoon of Germans." I'll give you ten minutes, and if you can't destroy or repel this enemy, you'll wait to be court-martialed. ”

"Chief of Staff, give me the phone." Seeing that Akhromeyev was losing his temper with excitement, I quickly stood up, took the phone from his hand and said to Gaidar: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, immediately report to me the details of what is going on there with you. ”

"That's right, Comrade Division Commander." Gaidar was just frightened by Akhromeyev, and he stammered a little when he spoke, "The enemy, the enemy came up from the river, and as soon as he touched the high ground, he was discovered by the machine gun team on duty." Our fighters did not hesitate to open fire on the enemy, but they did not expect that the enemy's combat effectiveness was very strong, and in just two or three minutes, they destroyed our machine-gun fire points, rushed into the trenches, and exchanged fire with the patrol who had rushed to hear the news. At present, fierce fighting is raging between the enemy and us, and the casualties are very heavy. ”

"Immediately send troops over, and we must do everything possible to annihilate this enemy or drive it away from our position." After hearing his decisive answer, I couldn't help but ask: "By the way, how is the reconnaissance team you sent out, have you returned?" ”

"Not yet, Comrade Division Commander." Gaidar replied in a low voice, and then he added: "Allow me to lead my troops first to destroy the enemy who invaded the position. ”

"Go, Comrade Gaidar," I said sternly, with a straight face, "remember, you must be fast, otherwise you will be passive when the enemy's reinforcements come up and carry out the front and rear attacks." (To be continued......)

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